Frelinghuysen, once challenged by a ficus tree, could face real opposition in 2018

Republican U.S. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen has never had a hard time getting re-elected.

The 22-year incumbent represents a district so safe that Michael Moore in 2000 tried to run a ficus tree against him to highlight the lack of competition. And although the tree never got on the ticket, it got more media attention than any of Frelinghuysen’s other challengers.

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But Frelinghuysen’s streak of effortless elections may come to an end in 2018, just as he’s at the height of his power as chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.

Anti-Trump activists have incessantly called on Frelinghuysen to hold a town hall somewhere in North Jersey’s 11th District, which includes all or parts of Morris, Essex Passaic and Sussex counties. He’s refused, so they’ve protested at his office asking "Where's Rodney?" and held mock town halls. The recently-started Facebook group “NJ 11th for Change,” through which protests against Frelinghuysen are publicized, has more than 7,000 members.

And now, NJ 11th for Change has a super PAC, founded last month by Google executive Jonathan Bellack and local bank executive Saily Avelenda. Organizers claim it raised $10,000 in its first day and another $10,000 in its first week simply through seeking contributions on Facebook.

“We’re not your traditional super PAC,” said Debra Caplan, who serves on the super PAC’s board and on the steering committee of the larger NJ 11th for Change organization. “We’re a citizens super PAC. We’re a group of ordinary people who decided to start a super PAC because we want to be able to create material and distribute information about what’s happening in the congressional district and things that are coming down the line.

A Republican from a political dynasty that dates back to the nation’s founding, Frelinghuysen, a Procter & Gamble heir, was for two decades a perfect fit for his heavily Republican, well-heeled district. He also earned a reputation as a moderate.

“We are here to show people in our district who have voted for him in the past what he’s really about these days, what his actual voting record is," Avelenda said. “Part of what we’re trying to do is to show that that label, 'moderate,' doesn’t apply anymore."

Critics point to Frelinghuysen's decreasing vote ratings by groups like Planned Parenthood and his increasing ratings with groups like the National Rifle Association.

Redistricting in 2011 didn’t do Frelinghuysen any favors by taking away some conservative territory and adding some Democratic towns, including part of the liberal bastion of Montclair, in Essex County. In 2010, the district had 150,000 Republicans to 100,000 Democrats. Now, it has 165,000 Republicans and 152,000 Democrats.

Donald Trump won Frelinghuysen’s district last year, but barely — and by a significantly smaller margin than Mitt Romney won it in 2012.

“There are thousands of people in this district who have felt for months now, and some for years, that their representative isn’t listening to them,” Caplan said.

Frelinghuysen defended his record.

“I am busy working for the people of New Jersey — rebuilding our military after years of cutbacks, creating new jobs through a revived economy, ensuring patients and families have access to quality health care, protecting the taxpayers through rigorous oversight of Executive Branch proposals and supporting veterans through greater access to medical care and benefits,” he said in a statement.

Matt Hale, a professor of political science at Seton Hall University, said Frelinghuysen could be vulnerable.

“The anger that people are feeling toward Donald Trump seems to be spilling over all over New Jersey. I do think that could crystalize into an effective opposition,” he said.

Caplan said several people have expressed interest in challenging the 70-year-old Frelinghuysen. Only one Democrat, however, has publicly entertained the notion: Assemblyman John McKeon, who comes from a Democratic part of the district in suburban Essex County.

Even with a super PAC doing some of the lifting, whomever runs against Frelinghuysen will likely be financially outgunned. As chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Frelinghuysen, who in the last election raised $2 million — half of it from corporate PACs — dpite token opposition, will not have trouble raising money.

“It’s a cash cow being chair of the Appropriations Committee. Everyone wants to give him money,” Hale said. But, Hale added, “the potential effective opposition is not going to be swayed by television commercials, mailers or anything like that. It’s really whether the opposition that hasn’t turned out at all for Frelinghuysen turns out in massive numbers.”

But John Sette, a former Morris County Republican chairman, said he’s not at all worried about Frelinghuysen and thinks the congressman is being singled out because of his powerful House position.

“He goes to everything in every single town in his district. Rodney is Rodney. He’s not Congressman Ferlinghuysen. He’s Rodney to everybody,” Sette said. “I know for a fact he signs 100,000 letters to constituents.”